Mainit Illusion and Mainit Fantasy Come to Arts House in February

From mid-February, the creative forces of Saluhan Collective and Liquid Architecture are set to heat up Arts House with Mainit Illusion and Mainit Fantasy.

Mainit is a Filipino word meaning hot or humid – it describes the intensity of summer heat felt across the archipelago.

Mainit Illusion is a month-long exhibition informed by voyeurism and the post-paradise palate of the Philippines.

The exhibition features a range of newly commissioned works across sound, installation and video created by Filipinx artists from the Kulin and Eora Nations, including Catherine Ortega-Sandow, Del Lumanta, Kenneth Suico, Mariam Ella Arcilla (Magenta House), MJ Flamiano, Neil Cabatingan (Kuya Neil), Ranima Montes, and Raquel Solier (Various Asses).

Alongside the exhibition, Mainit Fantasy – a one-night curated spectacle of sweet and salty art, sound and performance – will take over Arts House.

Mainit Fantasy will start with an aperitif by Mariam Ella Arcilla – a new video installation and reading entitled A mango is shaped like a heart, but its own heart is a stone. Then audiences will then move to the outside terrace where Kenneth Suico will perform a voyeuristic rendition of songs from the Pointer Sisters inside a large steamy clam.

It will get even steamier and sweatier in the Arts House basement, where tropical refreshments will be served alongside hot back-to-back DJ sets by the Holy Trinity of Kuya Neil x Del Lumanta x Various Asses. The dancefloor will be on fire with renditions of experimental club meets NuMetal.

Catherine Ortega-Sandow and MJ Flamiano, Saluhan Collective co-Creative Directors, said “This new commission has given us time and space to experiment and expand our practice through new modes of working, both conceptually and materially, resulting in a project that is assertive, cheeky and critical.”

Kristi Monfries and Lucreccia Quintanilla, Liquid Architecture Co-Directors, said “This is a 360-degree experiential plunge into South East Asian Filipinix sound, vision and taste.”

Olivia Anderson, Arts House Acting Artistic Director, says “Saluhan Collective and Liquid Architecture are renowned for curating unmissable and boundary-bending events. We can’t wait to host the culmination of their combined creative powers.”